Vikram Pandit, chief executive of Citigroup, has said the banking behemoth is "strong enough" to withstand the current financial meltdown, which has seen the collapse of 158-year-old Lehman Brothers.

In an interview with television channel CNBC, the India-born Pandit asserted that Citi has long term stable liquidity and has a strong capital ratio.

The firm is "strong enough to withstand the current challenging environment. We have very strong revenue generating capabilities," Pandit told the news channel.

Pointing out that Citi was foresighted to raise enough capital, he said the banking major's capital ratio is very strong.

"Our capital ratio today or rather at the end of Q2 was 8.7 per cent and the sale of German business added 9.3 per cent... where we stood at the end of the second quarter on a proforma basis," Pandit noted.

To tackle the financial upheaval, the Bush administration is pushing for a $700 billion worth bailout package for American financial institutions in the US Congress.

Further, the crisis has seen the battering of some big names on the Wall Street including Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy last week, and the country's largest insurer American International Group.

In a move to rescue AIG, the US Federal Reserve has provided a mega two-year revolving credit facility worth $85 billion to the company.

Further, investment banking major Merrill Lynch was snapped up by Bank of America for about $50 billion. Two other leading investment banks -- Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have become bank holding companies, coming under the direct purview of US Fed.